A/N: AliKat's back! Told y'all that I would find a way to update sooner. :D Anyway, enjoy!

Oh, and just to prevent confusion, when you see a divider, that means I've switched third person POV's on y'all. ,

Disclaimer: Don't own Warriors.

Amberpaw tensed when a she-cat approached the group. She was all black, other than her paws, ear tips, and tail tip, which were all white. The cat didn't smell like a rouge, but she didn't quite smell like a kittypet either. Loner, the tabby thought with distaste.

"What do you want?" she heard Echostorm growl.

The she-cat nodded towards him and replied, "I don't mean any harm this time, I just noticed you all coming out of the forest...or what's left of the forest." She turned towards where a dark cloud of smoke was rising up from where TreeClan territory used to be. "Are you twelve what's left?"

"What's it to you?!" Amberpaw spat. "We don't need to tell you anything!"

"Well sorry for being concerned!" Cassie snarled.

Amberpaw hissed as a black tom stepped between the two. "Easy now," Ravenfeather sighed. "We don't mean any trouble, Cassie. We're just a little overwhelmed right now."

"What happened?" Cassie asked again, the fire still in her eyes.

"It's a long story," Echostorm muttered.

"Well, we have time." she calmed down the moment Echostorm spoke. "Come with me. I know somewhere we can speak."

Amberpaw flinched when her dream faded like the morning mist. Looking at the tom in front of her, she mewed, "Cassie? What does she have to do with the prophecy?"

"Quite a bit, unfortunately." Tigerstar growled. "The blasted cat will have a hobby of interfering while you're traveling. Remember to never trust her, no matter what happens."

The apprentice nodded and sat down. "Echostorm and Ravenfeather...They'll be on the journey as well. Can you tell me the others?"

"No. You'll find out by yourself. Gain the trust of each and every chosen cat and remember what I told you; choose a cat that won't be a burden."

She tilted her head to one side. "Why 'gain their trust' as you say it?" she asked.

"If you want to be respected, you must gain the trust of your Clan. When you are a warrior, this will help you greatly." The tabby sounded impatient.

Amberpaw nodded, although it didn't really answer her question. "Are we going to train tonight?"

As if to answer her question, both cats turned at the sound of paw steps to see a tabby tom with piercing blue eyes and a white chest and underbelly approach them. When he stopped beside Tigerstar, Amberpaw bowed her head respectfully and mewed, "Hello, Hawkfrost."

"Greetings, Amberpaw," he replied. "Are you prepared?"

She answered by crouching down. "Claws sheathed or unsheathed?"

"Unsheathed," Tigerstar meowed. "Let's see how far you've come."

Amberpaw nodded and began pacing around Hawkfrost. When she finally found a spot she thought she could leave a mark at, the apprentice quickly pounced him, crashing into his ribs. Unfortunately, it seemed like he expected it, for he immediately rolled over, crushing her. Suddenly, as soon as the tom's weight was on her, it was removed. Looking up she noticed that Hawkfrost had returned to his docile state.

"Wake up," he ordered.

Amberpaw gasped as her eyes flew open to reveal the apprentices den in TreeClan. As she attempted to get up, she winced at the pain she received from Hawkfrost nearly crushing her. Although it was slightly painful, she was disappointed that her training was cut short. Why had Hawkfrost ordered her to wake up? And as a matter of fact, why didn't she ask Tigerstar how Echostorm seemed to know that she-cat?

"Amberpaw!" she turned to see Blackpaw bound into the den. "Angerstrike wants you to wake up. We're getting an assessment today!"

She nodded and forced herself up, despite the pain. Following her den mate outside, she took in a quick breath of fresh air and walked over to her mentor.

Angerstrike nodded in approval. "Good, you're awake. I assume Blackpaw told you that you have a hunting assessment today."

"Yes." She mewed as she looked to see Snowpaw, Gentlepaw, and Blackpaw speaking to their mentors. "How long do we have?"

"Until sunhigh," the warrior looked at the sky, as did Amberpaw, to see that it was about dawn.

"You may hunt together or alone; your choice." Icestorm, Blackpaw's mentor, added.

"I want say we hunt together," Snowpaw meowed. "That way we have a better chance at catching prey." He smiled when Blackpaw and Gentlepaw agreed.

Amberpaw shook her head. "We should be in a patrol. Sure, we might be able to back each other up when hunting, but we'll catch more prey if we split up."

"Aw, you always disagree!" Blackpaw growled. Looking at the other apprentices, he hissed, "Let's go; just the three of us. We don't need her."

Amberpaw shrank slightly when the others nodded and walked towards the camp entrance. Sure, she was not the best when it came to a good attitude, but she was desperate. For the past quarter moon, she had realized how much her Clan mates meant to her and the fact that she was horrid towards the others whether they were an apprentice, kit, or warrior.

"Amberpaw?" Shadowpelt mewed as his red gaze focused on her. She didn't reply though; she just simply walked into the forest.

Once she was deep into the forest, Amberpaw forced herself to stop sulking and start hunting. Drinking in the air, she quickly picked out the scent of a finch. Sure enough, the small bird was under a tree, pecking at the ground. Dropping into a crouch, she slowly crept up to it until she was in striking distance. She then jumped up in the air and pounced on the creature, taking its life with one quick bite to the throat.

I'm glad hunting is so simple, she thought as she covered the body with dirt.

--

Cassie growled as the squirrel she was stalking ran up a nearby tree. "Why can't this be simpler!" she spat in frustration. It had been like this for the past moon. The she-cat had left her housefolk due to the fact that she absolutely hated the comfortable life. She knew that it would be hard surviving on her own, but Cassie had underestimated the difficulty. She was extremely good at catching mice and rabbits, but she needed to widen her choice of food. After all, she would tell herself, there won't always be mice and rabbits running around in the place you'll be in.

Giving up on the hunting expedition, she focused on finding a place to rest for the night. As she got farther and farther into the strange territory, Cassie began to feel uneasy. It felt as if someone was watching her, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Halting to a stop, she snarled and yowled, "Whoever you are, come out so I can rip your fur off!"

Suddenly, a large white tom with black paws stepped out of the brush. "So you think that you can rip my fur off, trespasser?" he growled, unsheathing his claws.

"Trespasser?" she repeated. "This isn't your territory!"

"You're right," he sneered. "It isn't my territory; it's TreeClan's."

"TreeClan?" she spat. "Yeah right. Clans are just stories mothers tell their kits so they won't wander to far from home."

"Believe what you will, but you will leave." The tom crouched down, ready to fight.

"I won't be the one leaving!" Cassie yowled defiantly and echoed his stance.

Neither one was sure which cat attacked first, but soon they were a black and white blur of screeching and caterwauling. Cassie smirked as she landed a hard blow to his head with he claws, but that look of confidence turned to one of pain as she felt his jaws close on her throat, cutting off her airways.

"Echostorm!" Cassie heard a yowl and the snapping of twigs. "What in StarClan's name are you doing?"

To her relief, the she-cat's voice caused Echostorm to release his grip as he turned to face the newcomer. Cassie saw a two she-cats; one silver with dark gray stripes and the other white with black ears. The silver one had rushed to Cassie's side and attempted to lick the wound. Cassie let her, apparently too weak to say otherwise.

"You're not suppose to kill other cats in battle! It's against the warrior code!" the white one growled at Echostorm.

"She was trespassing! Besides, the kittypet was being hostile and I thought..." Echostorm shook his head as he stopped speaking.

Despite her being injured, Cassie hissed and her fur bristled. "I'm no 'kittywhatever'!"

"If you don't know what it means, how do you know you're not one?" he retorted.

"I'm not stupid! I know when someone is insulting me Echostorm!" His name sounded strange to her as it rolled off of her tongue.

"A kittypet is a Clan's name for a cat that lives with Twolegs," the silver she-cat calmly explained.

"You mean housefolk?" she muttered and forced herself up. "As much as I hate to retreat, I'll leave you three alone." With that, she turned around and began walking away.

"Wait!" Cassie turned tail again to see Echostorm. "Where do you live?"

She glared at him. "Anywhere. What's it to you?"

He stopped and looked at his paws before meowing, "Well, it's just...It takes a lot of guts to take on a warrior when you're not one yourself and I...I respect you for that."

She snorted. "What's with the sudden change in attitude? I thought you hated me."

He snarled. "I'm just trying to make things right!"

"Hey, calm down!" she laughed. "I was kidding around. The name's Cassie by the way. Former houseca- er, kittypet."

Echostorm nodded. "Echostorm, you didn't hear." He looked at the she-cats. "And this is Mistpelt, the silver and gray one, and Crystalheart, my sister. Do you need somewhere to stay for the night? We could take you to our Clan's camp and ask Leafstar if you could sleep there."

Although it sounded tempting, she shook her head. "Poppycock. I'm not going to a camp owned by something that doesn't exist. Thank you for the offer, though. Maybe we'll meet again. Goodbye Echostorm, Crystalheart, Mistpelt." She nodded towards each cat before bounding off. Once she had gotten out of earshot of the three, she muttered, "I've never seen wierder cats in my entire life. That Echostorm was something though."

A/N: Yes, Cassie said 'poppycock'. I made her say it because it's a theory of mine that kittypets pick up some of their Twolegs' language. Aand there's the fact that I love that word for some reason. xD

Please Review! I didn't get ANY for the last chapter and that kinda ticks me off, people...


Oh, and Blanket of Darkness, tell me if Cassie didn't come out the way you wanted her to.

Itsumademo Itachi Funsai,

AliKatNyah